Interview: Catwoman & Amazons Attack

Perhaps Selina Kyle, better known as Catwoman, would have been better off if writer Will Pfeifer never took over her ongoing comic book. To the delight of fans, Selina's life has never been more tumultuous - or fascinating. As Infinite Crisis mania was sweeping the DCU, Pfeifer introduced a major twist into Catwoman's life - the thief and vigilante murdered the notorious crime lord Black Mask.

Not content with that dramatic shift, Pfeifer then turned Selina's life upside down when twelve months passed due to the One Year Later event. Readers were shocked to discover that there were two feline femme fatales, and that one of them had a child. Though the identity of Selina's father wasn't revealed for several issues, the idea that this rambunctious rebel was responsible for another life was astonishing. Catwoman might not be pleased with Will Pfeifer, but her legion of fans has to be.

Speaking of legions, Infinite Crisis changed the lives of Wonder Woman and her Amazonian sisters forever. Wonder Woman, embracing her warrior heritage and a more ruthless version of justice, killed the sinister Maxwell Lord. During DC's epic event, Wonder Woman's allies left Earth, not to be seen for well over a year. Amazons Attack alters that notion considerably. Starting in April, the world will pay for its supposed mistreatment of the daughters of Themyscira.

IGN Comics: As the title suggests, your new miniseries deals with the Amazons attacking the U.S. Can you tell us anything about the reason behind the attack? Does the inciting incident happen in the pages of the series, or will we have already seen it by the time the first issue hits the stands?

Will Pfeifer: Well in a way it's really a series of events, but the main inciting incident we've already seen, when Wonder Woman killed Maxwell Lord on national television and all the repercussions against that. The Amazons feel - and I can't go into a whole lot of detail - that a great crime was committed against one of their own by the world of men. They feel like an attack on one Amazon is an attack on all Amazons. They respond by hitting America - specifically Washington D.C. - very, very hard in the first issue [laughs].

IGN Comics: Many fans have been confused by the discrepancies between Wonder Woman's status quo as depicted in Allan Heinberg's delayed issues and the Wonder Woman that's been appearing in books like Justice League of America and Manhunter. By the time Amazons Attack hits the stands, will fans have a firm grasp of where Wonder Woman's been in the missing year and where she stands in the current DCU?

Pfeifer: Yeah, especially where she stands as a character in the current DCU. Part of that's because Jodi Picoult is taking over as the writer of Wonder Woman. I've worked with her and Matt Idelson, who's the editor on these books, and we've worked to make sure that, when the two books come out, the continuity will definitely dovetail and fit. I've read Jodi's scripts and sometimes we'll follow the same event in both series, but from a different angle. The fans will definitely know what Wonder Woman's situation is in the DCU, who's for her, who's against her, and how that all fits in and how that fuels the conflicts that make up Amazons Attack.

IGN Comics: How closely did you work with Jodi Picoult on helming the concept for this series? Was the concept already established before you came on board? Can you tell us a little about the creative process behind coming up with this series?

Pfeifer: The concept was presented to me. Well, just the real bare bones sort of concept. I think there had been another idea floating around called Amazons Attack around the time of Infinite Crisis, but this is something completely different. I haven't actually talked to Jodi yet. We've worked real closely through editor Matt Idelson, who I had worked with on Catwoman, and Nachie Castro, who I currently work with on Catwoman. Nachie is the associate editor on Amazons Attack. We've all definitely made sure that the two books fit closely together. I actually went out to the DC offices in late November and we had a long planning meeting. We also talked to other editors, because this attack is going to involve a lot of the heroes in the DCU. We made sure we addressed questions like, "Can we use this character here?" and "What's this character doing now?" and "Will this fit into this scene here?" So continuity wise, I'm hoping it'll be pretty tight.

IGN Comics: What other famous heroes will be showing up in Amazons Attack?

Pfeifer: Well the attack is an act of war against the nation's capital, so immediately you can imagine who shows up - big guns like Batman and Superman. Black Lightning is actually one of the first heroes we see because he happens to be in [Washington] D.C. at the time. There's a scene in the first issue where he makes sure the President is okay and gets him out of the city in one piece. We're able to bring in a lot of different heroes, and it's a lot of fun to see how they would respond to this kind of dramatic situation.

IGN Comics: Is this a Wonder Woman-centric series, or will this be more of an ensemble story focusing on a number of the different Amazons fans already know?

Pfeifer: Jodi will be handling a lot of the direct Wonder Woman stuff in her title. In Amazons Attack - Wonder Woman will certainly be a big part of it - but there will definitely be Amazons we've seen, a new Amazon, and some people working both with and against the Amazons. But yeah, it'll be more of an ensemble piece.

IGN Comics: Are there any plans for you to write Wonder Woman down the road?

Pfeifer: It'd be interesting. I might actually be doing an issue or two that sort of ties in with Amazons Attack. I'm not quite sure when they'll be scheduled, but there have been some talks. These series are so tightly tied that maybe I'll take a crack at it. I'm not sure how that affects Jodi's schedule. I'm certainly not replacing her on the book, but there's been some talk of maybe me doing an issue or two. That'd be fun. It's certainly a high profile book, and a DC book that has been appearing since the early forties. It's always fun to take on those iconic characters.

IGN Comics: Moving on to Catwoman. Obviously, we've just seen the big reveal of the identity of the father of Selina's baby, and a lot of fans were pretty shocked.

Pfeifer: Were they really? I hadn't noticed! [laughs] Was anybody talking about it on the Internet, cause I must have missed it? [laughs] No, we knew they'd be shocked and, you know, that's part of the fun.